Long ago, when the word 'Hiigara' rang only as a hollow dream, the kiith of Kharak never imagined they would walk the Path to Victory. But, when they reclaimed their Homeworld and proclaimed themselves 'Hiigaran', they believed they had reached their goal. How wrong they were. 150 years after Hiigaran landfall, conflict rages across the Galaxy... Path to Victory is a multiplayer and skirmish mod for Homeworld 2 that adds new units to both Vaygr and Hiigaran Races as well as enabling the Keepers, Raiders and Kadeshi as playable races.
Not so much presenting new ships as reviving images of well known hiigaran ships and showing off my first ever and crappy map: Ice Fields.
It isn't quite finished but the idea will be that you fight around an ice field. In the center of the map there will be a large ice chain that blocks capital ship movement (forcing them to go over or unter).
There will be a single capturable research station in the center of the map (once I get round to modeling it) which will be able to dock and repair fighters as well as offer sensor data for most of the map.
Expect some more new maps and new map objects in future... as well as a 0.0.5 release near the end of this week or the beginning of the weekend. For now, enjoy the cool ice!
Sounds like there will be nearly a constant war of attriton for this center station. That battle platform could come in handy after all
The battle platform is a wonder in any game you're forced into a defensive position. The Hiigarans have trouble mounting devestating assaults. They do much better steamrolling their opponents but if you ever get stuck in a situation where you're outnumbered and could use extra firepower, the platform's the way to go.
seems big... nice :)
It's actually tiny (same format as shield) but the big ice cubes make it look huge. I'm thinking of making white/blue dust clouds and using them as 'ice fog' or whatever you will...
Trying to do the Helithim Ice Fields huh? Well good for you... I'm surprised that no other mod has ever picked up on those pieces of concept art. It looks like the ice could use some more attention, and the background significantly looked at, but this is a very good start.
FYI, there are (or were) two official environments for the ice fields. There was the kind you are doing now, with sharp ice bergs, and there was the part of the ice fields that partially merged with the Gennah Asteroid Belt. The concept art that relic did was for the Gennah area, and as you can see in the art, the ice is so pulverized that it looks like snow, which becomes collected on the asteroids and ships.
I think every modder had to be considering making this (I know I did), or even a mini campaign with Makaan getting the HS core there, that would be nice.
But where did you see the official environments/concept you are talking about? I've never actually seen that place, only read about it.
Actually, I didn't think that far. I just thought: Ice in Space, cool! I want!
It only occured to me later there was something like this in the HW2 story. As for the background, I'm well aware. I really, really, hate 2d art on the computer but I also really, really wanted an ice map so I just pasted some stuff together.
Hopefully IPS will be able to help me out sooner or later and fix the horrid background.
What do you mean you hate 2d art on the computer?
Well, I'm simply not good at photoshop or similar programs. I can draw fine on paper but on a computer it just doesn't quite agree with me.
The background would look great in black.
You mean rather than ending in blue, ending in black? I considered that but somehow the blue gives you the feeling of being in an endless ice field. There are no shadows ingame either. It has a very eerie feel to it.
not to self promote or anything.... but this does remind me of the Meudeverre ice fields in AFF: Media.moddb.com
True, though not intentinal.
Damn impressive image there though!
I was thinking how HW1 felt with every thing in black, I always felt so alone... Like I was one fragile race that every one was out to get.
something like that...
Definitly something I'd like to do. Not all the maps but some of them... I want each map to have a distict feel to it. Ice Fields is very lonesome. Others will be different, cluttered, confusing, distrubing etc.
> loves the kadeshi
> adores the arctic (well, anything below freezing, sucks to be me in summer >.<)
therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this map is AWESOME
It's actually even better since I toned down the impossibly high glare so you can now actually see your own and enemy ships ;)
know the feeling though. I hate heat myself. Cold is easier to deal with.
it would be cool if you could add white nebula patches to emulate the snow 'dust' which would probably occur from all the asteroids smashing into each other :P
and yes, I'm the crazy guy you see in shorts and a tshirt when there's 4ft of snow on the ground xD
acctually that reminds me something I wanted to ask, will there be any progenitor styled armour for the advanced multibeam frigate with progenitor beam weapons, or will it just be new weapons?
Due to engine limitations at the moment it's just one model. I may script around this and make the mbf replacable by a new model but for now it's just the same one.
Hmm the white clouds sound good. In the 005 you'll have dark blue clouds (me playing around) but they are very faint. White seems a lot better.